Deng Xiaoping and the Construction of Minority Cadres

Original title: Deng Xiaoping and the construction of ethnic minority cadres

In September 2014, the Central Ethnic Work Conference pointed out that "the key to doing ethnic work lies in the party and the key lies in people", emphasizing the importance of cadres in ethnic work. The construction of ethnic minority cadres is an important part of the party's cadre work and ethnic work, and has always been highly valued. Mao Zedong paid great attention to this. His thought and practice on the construction of the national cadre team laid an important foundation for the construction of the national cadre team and the national work in our country. Deng Xiaoping enriched and developed the thought and practice of the construction of minority cadres in the light of the situation and tasks of socialist construction, especially since the reform and opening up.

Our party has always attached great importance to the important role of ethnic cadres in solving ethnic problems and doing ethnic work well. In November 1949, Mao Zedong pointed out that "to thoroughly solve the ethnic problem", "it is impossible without a large number of communist cadres from ethnic minorities" (Selected Documents Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, Volume 1, Central Literature Publishing House 2011 edition, p. 32). When Zhou Enlai talked about ethnic work, he often talked about the issue of ethnic cadres. In the early days of the founding of New China, Deng Xiaoping ruled the southwest. In July 1952, in view of the complex and important ethnic problems in Southwest China, Deng Xiaoping stressed in his inscription to Southwest Institute for nationalities that "one of the central keys to uniting all ethnic groups in the big family of the motherland is that all ethnic groups have a group of cadres who love the motherland and can contact the masses" (edited by Zhang Hancheng: History of Southwest Institute for nationalities, Sichuan nationalities Publishing House, 1991, p. 14). This is the first time that Deng Xiaoping used the concept of "key" to emphasize the important role of ethnic minority cadres in national unity.

In March 1966, when Deng Xiaoping inspected Qinghai, he pointed out that the most fundamental issues in Qinghai's work are two issues. One is to promote agriculture; the other is to solve the ethnic problem. To "solve the ethnic problem, the key is to train ethnic minority cadres" ("Deng Xiaoping's Historical Footprints", Communist Party History Publishing House, 2004 edition, p. 579). Here, Deng Xiaoping also stressed that ethnic minority cadres play a "key" role in promoting the development of ethnic minority areas.

Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, in view of the new situation and new tasks of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, the Central Committee has further stressed that training and bringing up a contingent of ethnic minority cadres with both political integrity and ability is the key to do a good job in ethnic work and solve ethnic problems. Deng Xiaoping has repeatedly pointed out that the key to whether the work in ethnic areas can be done well lies in cadres. In October 1978, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee issued several opinions on the work of cadres in ethnic minority areas, which stressed that ethnic minority areas should pay attention to the selection of ethnic minority cadres with good political ideology and better knowledge of business. In August 1981, when Deng Xiaoping inspected Xinjiang, in view of the local momentum of ethnic separatism, he particularly stressed that "the issue of cadres is of extreme importance, and the key to whether Xinjiang's work can be done well is the issue of cadres." Therefore, it is necessary to "pay attention to the training and promotion of ethnic minority cadres" ("Deng Xiaoping Thought Chronicle (1975-1997)", Central Literature Publishing House, 1998 edition, p. 199). This is Deng Xiaoping once again used the concept of "key" to emphasize the important role of ethnic minority cadres in opposing ethnic division and maintaining stability in ethnic regions.

The training and appointment of ethnic minority cadres is also a key element in the implementation and improvement of the system of regional ethnic autonomy. In May 1984, the Second Session of the Sixth National People's Congress passed the "the People's Republic of China National Regional Autonomy Law", which came into effect in October of the same year. Among them, articles 16, 17, 18, 22 and 64 all make clear provisions on the allocation and training of ethnic minority cadres. Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on the construction of ethnic minority cadres have been "intensively implemented and embodied" in these regulations (edited by Jia Donghai: "A Comparative Study of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping's Ethnic Theories", Gansu People's Publishing House, 2003 edition, p. 277).

What kind of standards should be established for the construction of the cadre team is an extremely important issue. As early as the period of the new democratic revolution, the Chinese Communists began to think about this issue. In October 1938, Mao Zedong pointed out in the political report of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: "The Communist Party of China is a party that leads the great revolutionary struggle in a large nation of tens of millions of people. It is impossible to complete its historical tasks." (Selected Works of Important Party Leaders in Yan'an Period, Volume 1, Central Literature Publishing House, 2014 Edition, P. 58) Regarding how to grasp the relationship between "morality" and "talent" in actual work, in November 1940, Chen Yun pointed out in "Several Issues on Cadre Work" that in the specific process of selecting and appointing cadres, we must adhere to "equal emphasis on morality and talent, germany as the mainstay" (Selected Works of Chen Yun, Volume 1, People's Publishing House, 2015, p. 214). The standard of "having both ability and political integrity" has created a large number of cadres who adhere to the revolution and have the courage to fight. After the founding of New China, the party has always adhered to this principled standard in the selection and training of cadres. However, with the changes in the central work in different periods, the specific connotations and indicators of "morality" and "talent" have also been continuously enriched and developed.

In order to meet the needs of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, Deng Xiaoping further enriched and developed the principled standard of "having both ability and political integrity. In August 1980, Deng Xiaoping affirmed the standard of having both ability and political integrity in his speech on the reform of the leadership system of the party and the state, and added three standards: "under this premise, the contingent of cadres should be younger, educated and professional" (selected works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. 2, people's publishing house, 1994 edition, p. 326). In December of the same year, Deng Xiaoping further put forward the standard of "four modernizations" for cadres at the central working conference. "On the premise of adhering to the socialist road, we must make our cadre team younger, more educated, and professional." "Put forward the three conditions of youth, knowledge, and specialization. Of course, the first thing is to revolutionize" ("Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping" Vol. 2, p. 361). Training, selecting and appointing cadres in accordance with the standards of revolutionization, youth, knowledge and specialization has become the general policy of strengthening the construction of the cadre team in the new period of socialist construction. This is Deng Xiaoping's "ability and political integrity" to the party under the new historical conditions. The rich development of the standard.

In the construction of minority cadres, Mao Zedong mainly focused on training and appointing cadres with communist ideological consciousness. Therefore, "revolutionization" has become the main criterion of its emphasis. In the period of socialist construction, Deng Xiaoping adjusted and developed the policy of selecting and training ethnic minority cadres. The new policy points out that it is necessary to "vigorously train minority political cadres and professional and technical personnel with communist consciousness needed for the construction of the four modernizations" (Jin Binghao: "the History of the Development of the ethnic Policy of the Communist Party of China", Central University for nationalities Press, 2006, p. 260). In July 1981, the "Minutes of the Yunnan Ethnic Work Report Meeting" issued by the General Office of the Central Committee proposed that it is necessary to "vigorously cultivate a team that adheres to the four basic principles, faithfully implements the party's principles and policies, keeps close contact with the ethnic masses, and has modern scientific and cultural knowledge. And a team of ethnic cadres with various professional work capabilities". In fact, this is to popularize the "four-level" standard of cadres to the training and selection of ethnic minority cadres.

In addition, Deng Xiaoping was also aware of the particularity of the standards for minority cadres. In August 1981, when he inspected Xinjiang, he said, "We must establish a standard for selecting ethnic cadres, and pay attention to the training and selection of ethnic minority cadres". As for the connotation of this special standard, Deng Xiaoping pointed out that "comrades who are upright in their ideological style, resolutely safeguard the reunification of the motherland and national unity, and have outstanding work performance and certain qualifications should be boldly mentioned" (chronology of Deng Xiaoping's thought (1975-1997), p. 199). This clarifies that in addition to meeting the political requirements of ordinary cadres, ethnic minority cadres must also be particularly firm in safeguarding the unity of the motherland and national unity.

In the early days of the founding of New China, Mao Zedong realized the importance of a large number of ethnic minority cadres in solving ethnic problems. In accordance with the spirit of Mao Zedong's instructions, the central government proposed to "train a large number of ethnic minority cadres". Under the impetus of this policy, the number and scale of ethnic cadres have developed rapidly. In 1950, there were only 10000 ethnic minority cadres in the country; in 1956, it increased to 210000; in 1966, it reached 800000.

Although the number of ethnic minority cadres has increased significantly during this period, they are still faced with problems such as the number of ethnic minority cadres is not commensurate with the proportion of their population, the distribution of levels is unreasonable, the education level of grassroots cadres is low, and the lack of professional and technical cadres. Since the reform and opening up, with the shift of the party's work center, Deng Xiaoping began to pay attention to the training of cadres to meet the needs of economic and social development in ethnic areas, and pay attention to the optimization and adjustment of its structure. Regarding the professional and technical structure of ethnic minority cadres, in November 1979, the State Council approved the National Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Ministry of Education's "Report on the Basic Summary of the Work of the Institute for Nationalities and Future Policies and Tasks" and proposed that the Institute for Nationalities must vigorously cultivate the "four modernizations". "Minority political cadres and professional and technical personnel with communist consciousness needed. Regarding the cultural and knowledge structure of ethnic minority cadres, in August 1980, Deng Xiaoping pointed out in a conversation with the Panchen Lama that not only must production be developed, "but also efforts must be made to develop culture, train ethnic cadres, and make ethnic cadres knowledgeable" ("Deng Xiaoping" Excerpts on Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics ", Central Literature Publishing House, 1995 edition, p. 410). During this period, the party and the government mainly adopted the forms of education and training in ethnic colleges and universities, training in cadre schools and ethnic cadre colleges, entrusting ordinary colleges and universities to run ethnic classes, training by relevant central ministries and commissions, and temporary training. In terms of the number and composition of ethnic minority cadres, in July 1981, the "Minutes of the Yunnan Ethnic Work Report Meeting" issued by the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed that "each ethnic autonomous area should gradually achieve the composition of ethnic cadres and the local ethnic groups. The population ratio is roughly the same".

Under the guidance and promotion of Deng Xiaoping's thought on the construction of ethnic minority cadres and the policies issued by national departments at all levels, the number of ethnic minority cadres in China has been expanding and the structure has been gradually optimized. By the end of 1992, the number of ethnic minority cadres had grown from 780000 in 1977 to 2.284 million; in the five provincial-level autonomous regions, the proportion of ethnic minority cadres among their provincial-level cadres, prefectural (department and bureau)-level cadres and county (division)-level cadres was 47.5 per cent, 35.9 per cent and 32.1 per cent, respectively; and the proportion of ethnic minority cadres with Senior high school education or above accounted for 75 per cent of the total; the proportion of professional and technical minority cadres in enterprises and institutions across the country is 64.4 (Sun Yi: "Theory and Practice of the Construction of Chinese Minority Cadres", Social Science Literature Press, 2012 edition, pp. 97-98).

(author: Li Haibo author unit: Central South University for Nationalities, this article is the research center of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics in Hubei Province, Central South University for Nationalities sub-center project [201609] results)

May 04, 2017 Source: Guangming Daily